The Evening Star
by RavenQrow
Summary: "You can't hope to win against merciless brutality with an honorable warrior, Ozpin. You need a brute of your own." Enter Jericho and Evangeline, two new students of Beacon academy. ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I don't own RWBY or any of the characters except my OCs. That is all, continue reading now.

OC Characters (I'll do my best to paint a picture of them, they're pretty simple)

Name: Jericho Trint

Gender: Male

Height: 5'8''

Weight: 120lbs

Age: 17 (born 4/16)

Appearance: short dark brown tousled hair, dark green eyes, and tanned skin. His combat outfit is a dark green long sleeved shirt with the left sleeve pushed up, black pants, and black combat boots. He wears a black bracer and shoulder plate on his right arm and a black lightweight chest plate (chest plate is similar to Jaune's armor).

Equipment: 6 foot blackthorn Bo staff he wears on his back, and a collapsible escrima stick (also blackthorn) that is hidden in his right sleeve.

Name: Evangeline Corvo

Gender: Female

Height: 5'6''

Weight: 115lbs

Age: 17 (born 8/14)

Appearance: long, raven-black hair she wears in a braid, very dark brown eyes (almost black), Caucasian skin. Her combat outfit is a white sleeveless v-neck shirt with her family crest on the back (a raven mid flight, pointing left), white boots, and dark blue leggings. Her arms are covered in dark blue swirl pattern tattoos (The tattoos start at the inside of her wrist and extend to her shoulder blades). Evangeline is a Faunus and does not hide it; she has a tail the same color as her hair.

Equipment: Twin rifle-hook swords with a crescent moon hand guards, both of which she wears on her back when not in use.

* * *

Jericho grumbled an almost incoherent sentence into the table "What's taking him so long?" Evangeline, ever patient, sat quietly next to him.

"Don't rush him Jericho. He is making a decision that could change your life." Jericho grumbled in reply, still refusing to take his head off the table. Evangeline placed a hand on his back, patting it gently. "Be patient. I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about." In truth, Evangeline had no doubt in her mind that Jericho had gotten into Beacon. He was an amazing fighter, having trained for much of his life. And as modest as she tried to be, she was confident she was going to be accepted too.

"The Vytal Festival is in three months, I could be training for the tournament right now." Jericho said, lifting his head. Evangeline laughed softly at the red spot on his forehead before replying gently.

"And Beacon is your best hope for training." Jericho huffed and crashed his forehead into the table again.

"I hate when you're all logical and stuff. Makes my head hurt." Evangeline was sure her words had nothing to do with the pain in his head but she held her tongue and waited. Suddenly Jericho shot his head up. "Here he comes." The door creaked open and Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch entered. He sat down and was silent for several seconds before he looked up at the two young warriors in front of him.

"So, you want to attend Beacon." Both of them nodded in agreement, and Ozpin smiled. "Well alright then." Jericho smiled and jumped up, shouting with excitement. Ozpin watched the display with amusement before standing up. "You will share a dorm together; Professor Goodwitch will give you your scrolls and room number." Before he walked out the door Ozpin paused and looked at Jericho who had started to calm down. "This is…an unusual arrangement. Most students are in a team of four. You two are a special exception; I expect I will not be disappointed with my decision."

"No sir." Evangeline answered quickly. Ozpin left the room and Jericho wrapped his arms around Evangeline.

"We did it!" He lifted her in the air and spun her around. She lightly hit him on the head, laughing.

"Put me down!" He gently placed her on the ground and she fixed her shirt before turning to Goodwitch, who stared at them with thinly veiled uncertainty.

"Here" she said, handing them some papers and two scrolls "These are yours, do not lose them." She eyed Jericho with the last part, somehow sensing how reckless the boy would be. "Welcome to Beacon." And with that she turned and left, leaving Jericho to stick his tongue out at her back.

"Come on, we have to unpack." Evangeline turned to walk out the room and Jericho followed close behind, cracking his knuckles as he did.

"I bet I can get to the gym and train for a while first. It's Friday, that means no classes for two days!" Jericho practically skipped down the hall past Evangeline. He made it pretty far before he stopped dead in his tracks. "Aww crap…" He turned, crestfallen, and faced his partner. "We have to do school here too." Evangeline allowed a small smile and took his arm as she walked by, ushering him forward. She was used to his somewhat childish behavior at times, and she wasn't above having to parent him when needed. In fact, she reveled in the opportunities to help and encourage him; and if necessary, threaten and deceive him.

"Come on. We should get some rest, it's getting dark." Evangeline watched for his response and saw him stiffen before he looked out the windows of the hall and pulled out of her grip, walking ahead with a little more urgency. Evangeline sighed as he walked quickly and disappeared around the corner. _Old habits die hard I guess _she thought before moving to catch up to her partner as they made their way to their new home. Along the way Jericho suddenly froze and walked backwards a couple steps, back to a door he had just passed. He was staring at it intently when Evangeline caught up to him. "What's wrong?"

She asked. Jericho sniffed at the air.

"I smell cookies." Evangeline rolled her eyes as Jericho reached for the door. She quickly grabbed his hand.

"What are you doing? These students are probably trying to catch up on sleep after a difficult week. If the stories are true then we too are going to spend many sleepless nights full of studying. " Jericho paused, contemplating Evangeline's logic.

"But…cookies." Evangeline shook her head, and Jericho sighed and began walking away. "Next time then." Jericho looked at the door and held up his fist, "I don't know if you're in there cookies. But I will find you. And I will eat you. Beware me!" and with that the childlike new student ran down the hall to his new home with Evangeline lagging behind in no real hurry.

Inside the room Jericho had contemplated barging into, a team of four was fast asleep just as Evangeline had thought. At least, they were until the small girl on the top bunk shot up, her eyes wide. She frantically flailed around before she fell out of the bed and landed on the floor with a thud, waking up her teammates.

"Ruby, What are you doing?" Weiss demanded, evidently annoyed that her sleep had been disturbed. Ruby sleepily looked around until he found the small plate of cookies on the dresser untouched, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"The cookies, they were in danger" Ruby said, as if that made all the sense in the world. All three of her teammates launched pillows at her head in response.

* * *

Jericho and Evangeline walked into their room and immediately went to work. The dorm was meant for a team of four, and as such there were four beds. Jericho clapped his hands together and smiled. "Well, Evangeline, which ones do you want; one and two, two and three, four and one, one and three, three and four, or two and four?" She waved his question away and just walked over to the bed on the left. "One and two it is!" Jericho pushed the two beds on the left together for Evangeline, then did the same with the ones on the right. Evangeline began carefully unpacking her clothes into the dresser and closet. Jericho was quite the opposite. Jericho unzipped his suitcase, lifted it above his head, and dumped its contents on the beds. Evangeline rolled her eyes.

"You could spare the ten minutes to put it away." Jericho shook his head.

"There is only one important thing in here right now" he said, concentrating on the pile of clothes before him. After a moment he found it and held them up. "Behold! The most comfortable pajama pants on the face of the earth!" Evangeline smiled and continued to put her clothes away as Jericho walked into the bathroom to get changed. By the time he came out in his comfortable pants and no shirt, she had already finished unpacking and was ready for bed. Jericho looked at her standing in a tank top and a pair of blue sweatpants. "We have school uniforms, right?" Evangeline nodded and Jericho gestured behind her. "Did you cut holes in them yet?"

"I can take care of my tail Jericho; I am used to adapting my clothes." Evangeline rolled her eyes at his unnecessary concern. Jericho laughed at her response.

"I was more wondering if you were going to hide the fact that you're a Faunus. Apparently there are some rude people here. Then again, if anyone picks on you-" Evangeline cut him off with a laugh.

"I know, you'll be there to protect me." Jericho looked at her quizzically.

"Actually I was going to say that if anyone picked on you I will be there to watch you beat the crap out of them first hand, but I guess I could help you if you needed it." Evangeline smiled.

"Go wash your face." Jericho usually looked crestfallen when Evangeline got into her motherly moods and told him to take baths and eat his vegetables, but this time he swelled up with pride.

"I already did! They have fancy soap here, it's like a hotel!" Jericho smiled at her. Jericho walked to his bead, but froze in the middle of the room before he could make it. She followed his gaze to the window, where the courtyard outside was bathed in the gentle light of the moon. Evangeline looked at him sadly before she got up and turned on the light then closed the curtains, seemingly breaking the spell the outside had on Jericho. "Thanks" he said, and she nodded.

"You know it's not _that_ dark. There's plenty of light from the moon" Evangeline said hopefully, even though she knew the argument was useless. Jericho shook his head and laughed.

"Come on Angel, you know the moonlight doesn't count." Evangeline crossed her arms. She despised the nickname Jericho sometimes used for her. Even worse, she hated the cheeky grin that he got whenever he used it. He did it just to get under her skin. Jericho laughed at her evident frustration and sat on the floor. Evangeline's face fell when she saw him beginning his nightly routine.

"Seriously? You can't take one night off? You have to be exhausted." Jericho shook his head as he began doing pushups.

"I've been doing this for like 5 years now Angel, why aren't you used to it yet!" Evangeline crossed her arms and sat up.

"Jericho. Sleep." Evangeline's aura flared up as she concentrated and a dark mist flowed from her and towards Jericho, coiling around him. Jericho faltered in his pushups. His arms began trembling before he shook his head and the mist dispersed, breaking the spell.

"Nice try Angel, but you know it doesn't work on me anymore. Not unless I want it to" Evangeline sighed and got up, walking towards the light switch.

"You may be a better fighter Jericho, but you're not always smarter." She placed her hand on the light switch. "And you definitely can't see in the dark." Jericho froze mid push up and looked up at her.

"You wouldn't."

She smiled. "I'm tired, and you're keeping me up." Jericho sighed and crawled into his bed.

"You know, you could have just joined me, a little pre bedtime workout never hurt anyone." Evangeline made her way into her own bed and laughed.

"I'm not much of a follower" Evangeline responded quickly. Jericho grumbled something under his breath before he smiled at her with a wicked grin.

"What happened to monkey see monkey do?" Evangeline launched a pillow his way, which hit him directly in the face. They both laughed and sat in silence for a while before Jericho spoke up again. "Evangeline, do you mind?" Evangeline smiled. He always asked, even though he must surely know her answer by now. Flaring up her aura again, Evangeline focused on Jericho. He relaxed as her felt her semblance reach him, and in seconds he was asleep.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Just to set the stage a little…This is RWBY's second semester. I'm going to pretend this semester starts in September and ends with the Vytal Festival (mid-January). Just in case anyone is confused, everything from RWBY has happened to them, except Pyrrha and Jaune are only partners and have no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever. I'm sorry to those that ship them. I completely agree, but for this story I need them to be just friends.

I also know it can be weird to read a fanfiction where the main characters from the series are not the center stage. I'm trying my best to introduce and integrate my OC's into the main cast and keep the main characters as likable and as real as they seem in RWBY, but note that this story I have planned is all about these new characters. They interact with RWBY, but for now Jericho and Evangeline will be taking center stage alone. Don't worry; the others will be joining them, just not quite yet.


	2. Chapter 2

The weekend went by without any issues. Jericho and Evangeline did not spend much time exploring the campus as Ozpin had the other Professors give them work to catch up on right away. After all, they had entered the semester almost a month late. Being the good student she was, Evangeline had completed almost half of the work perfectly, and planned on finishing the rest by Friday, well within the Sunday deadline they had been given. Being the insomniac Jericho was, he stayed up and completed all the work in one sitting. It wasn't perfect at all…but it was done.

"Well, that work was fun, eh? Now we get more!" Jericho exclaimed sarcastically as they walked to their first class with a mustached professor named Port. Evangeline hushed him as they moved with the almost silent crowd of students.

She knew the silence was because of them. These kids had been in school almost a month, of course they noticed the two new people, one of which couldn't close his big mouth. Jericho, however, had no idea why everyone was looking at him. Or if he did know, he didn't care. He continued talking loudly.

"So this Port guys teaches Grimm studies, right? I heard a girl killed a borbatusk thingy in this class! I would like to see that. Hey, we've never fought one of those! It's only beowolfs and ursa over in-" Evangeline glared and hit him with an extremely concentrated blast of her semblence fog, almost knocking the unprepared babbler unconscious. Jericho stumbled and bumped into the back of a large creature.

The large creature turned out to be a boy who turned around shoved him back, hard.

"You better watch where you're going there buddy, do you know who I am?" Cardin sneered. Jericho quickly recovered and ignored the circle the other students were carving around him and Cardin.

"Uhh, no, sorry. Not a clue who you are. Should I bow?" Jericho bowed with a sweeping gesture so authentic Cardin assumed he was mocking him. In response Cardin reached out and grabbed Jericho's shirt, lifting him off the ground and bringing their faces close.

"Just watch where you're going newbie" Cardin growled, and unceremoniously dropped Jericho on the floor, where he landed gracefully. Evangeline tried to grab Jericho with her tail and pull him away, but he was not one to be easily intimidated. He was also extremely smart mouthed; a dangerous combination.

"Ah, yes. Well, you see, I _was_ watching where I was going" Jericho said. Cardin turned around and looked at the babbling idiot before him as he continued. "You see, I stumbled towards you. I saw exactly where I was going, but I couldn't stop myself. You know, objects in motion keep moving and all that physics stuff." Cardin just looked confused, but walked towards Jericho anyways, assuming he had just been insulted. Once again, Jericho was lifted off his feet and into the air.

"What did you say to me?" Cardin said whilst shaking Jericho. When he stopped, a dizzy Jericho tried to respond.

"Whoa there, easy. I said…do I really have to repeat it all? Ugh, I said…" Jericho paused and finally seemed to notice all the students crowding around him and Cardin. Jericho's eyes widened as realization dawned on him. Evangeline, who had been watching this whole time, quickly planted her forehead into the palm of her hand in frustration. "I get it now!" Jericho exclaimed. "You're a bully! Oh, this makes so much more sense. I thought maybe people were just strangely touchy feely here in Vale or something and maybe you were going to carry me into class since I was new. I'm sorry, I didn't sleep much this weekend, and I'm a little slow right now." Jericho laughed, and all the surrounding students shifted uncomfortably, sure that the new student was about to receive a beating from team CRDL who was moving to back up Cardin. Instead they saw Cardin's eyes begin to drop as he lost his balance, released Jericho, and stumbled back into his teammates. Evangeline stepped forward, a frown on her face.

"That's enough Jericho. Let's get to class now." Jericho followed his friend as she carved a way through the crowd. They made it inside just as the bell rang and sat down near the back, followed closely by CRDL, all of whom glared at them as they passed. Professor Port cleared his throat loudly at the front of the class.

"Good morning class. Welcome to another fine day at Beacon. In fact, this reminds me of another day long ago. I was not far from this very school, in the Emerald Forest when I was attacked by the biggest Ursa seen in all my years. Of course, I was caught unawares and unarmed. So I did the only logical thing, I picked up the nearest rock and moved in for the attack…" Jericho tuned out the completely unrealistic story and let his head hit the table.

Evangeline smiled at his actions and his almost silent grumbles that sounded something like "I wanted to fight a tuskaboar thingy…"

"Right then!" Professor Port's voice suddenly yelled, making most of the students jump in their seats. "Since you seem so eager Mr. Trint, you may come down here." Jericho stood up and made his way to the front of the classroom. "I assume you have brought your weapon young man?" Jericho nodded and wordlessly produced his staff. He watched the plump professor walk over to a cage at the other side of the room and raise his axe. "Right then, you are to neutralize the threat as quickly as possible. Any questions?"

"Nope." Jericho gripped his staff and smiled.

Evangeline grinned from her seat in the back and leaned forward on her elbows. Seeing Jericho fight was always something to watch. As he did before every fight, she watched as he twirled the staff around is wrist, arms, back, neck, even his legs. She shook her head; she would never understand how he was able to do that. Port raised his blunderaxe and cut the cage open.

The boarbatusk came rolling at Jericho, who jumped over it with ease. It was not as quick as him at changing course, so by the time it had changed direction Jericho was already waiting. He swung his staff into its side and sent it flying into the far wall with a crash. Its armored back would protect it from serious damage, but it should still daze it a little. Before the creature could get up, Jericho ran to one of the people in the front row, a girl with red hair.

"Hey. Psssst." Jericho said. The girl looked at him confused.

"Uhh…yes?"

"Two things. Can I borrow your pencil? Well, use it? You won't be getting it back. At least, you won't want it back." Ruby handed him her pencil. "Thanks! Now, do you happen to know where this things heart is? And quick?" the boarbatusk was recovering from the blow and was slowly getting to its feet. The girl with the bow next to her piped up.

"Above the front left leg, close to the center of its chest" Jericho nodded in thanks and was gone.

"Uhh…Blake, why did he need my pencil?" Blake, having already figured out what he was doing only turned Ruby's attention back to the fight.

"You'll see."

Jericho vaulted over the recovered boarbatusk as it charged him again. Once again, by the time it had recovered from its miss he was ready for it. Placing the tip of his staff in front of him, the flicked it upwards just at the boarbatusk hit it, sending the creature several feet into the air. Jericho moved in, pencil in hand, and stabbed it cleanly through the heart before it could land. The body was dead by the time it thumped to the ground. Ruby was dumbfounded at the use of her pencil and Professor Port was beaming as Jericho made his way back to his seat.

"Well done my boy! Excellent strategy. Your blunt weapon cannot pierce the underbelly, let alone the tough armor of a boarbatusk. You improvised, and with spectacular results. Much like that time I took down a nevermore with some dirt and a tree branch! It was a great and bloody battle…"

Jericho tuned out the professor as he sat down next to Evangeline with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Are you happy now?" she whispered quietly. Jericho nodded.

"Killed a tuskyboar thingy. With a pencil, I might add. Do I get extra style points?" Evangeline shook her head.

"You need a real weapon. Maybe just a dagger to use for situations like this." Jericho scoffed at the idea.

"Anyone can pick up a sword or knife and stab something to death. It takes skill to kill something with a stick. Specifically, a small stick with graphite in it. Called a pencil. I killed a thing with a pencil. Come on, give me something here!"

Evangeline smiled. "You owe that girl a pencil since you drove hers into its heart. Give her yours, you're not using it." Jericho grinned.

"Can I show off?" Evangeline shrugged. Jericho tossed the pencil towards the front row. As it fell, he reached out with his semblance and slowed it's decent so it lightly floated in front of the red haired girl before landing gently on her notebook. She jumped and looked around confused until she locked eyes with a smiling Jericho. Smiling back, she turned her attention back to Port and began taking notes again.

"And you say having a tail is cheating; you're a freaking telekinetic. You could control a bunch of weapons. I can wield three at most." Evangeline grinned. Jericho laughed quietly.

"You know I can't control large things, or large amounts of things. And don't you complain about semblances when you can make people fall asleep with your creepy dream sand." Evangeline elbowed him in the ribs.

"It's not dream sand, and I am not the sandman, okay? It's a fog. It just fogs up your mind…which may lead to you falling asleep."

Jericho laughed again at his partner as the bell rang and they got up to go to their next class. "Whatever you have to tell yourself. All I know is that I get more stuff in my eyes when you knock me out, and I'm pretty sure it's sand." Evangeline resisted the urge to knock him out with her "sand" right then, but instead they made their way to the next class with Professor Oobleck.

* * *

Jericho walked out of his history class with wide eyes. He shook his head, still trying to process everything he just heard. Evangeline chuckled at his exasperated expression as they made their way for the cafeteria. "So, Professor Oobleck. He was…active."

"Well well well, looks like we've found someone that even you can't keep up with Jericho" Evangeline teased. Jericho set his jaw and stood up straighter.

"I can keep up with anyone. It's other people that can't keep up with me." With a flash of a smile, Jericho was gone, running at full speed towards the cafeteria. Evangeline just sighed and continued on her way.

Evangeline got some food from the cafeteria and started walking around with her tray in hand, scanning the sea of faces for Jericho. She found him at last, sitting in the corner with a grumpy looking expression. Frowning, she walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Jericho nodded towards a table where team CRDL was messing with a rabbit-eared Faunus, never taking his eyes off of Cardin.

"He is a complete and total prick. Not even exaggerating. He probably kicks puppies for fun on the weekends. No, wait, that's too nice. He kicks _blind_ puppies for fun." Evangeline realized she was making a fist and closed her eyes, breathing in slowly to calm herself down.

As a Faunus, Evangeline had dealt with her fair share of discrimination and bullying. It was part of why she decided to train at combat schools. She hadn't been teased for being a Faunus is quite some time, but she caught the dirty looks and sideways glances as people whispered behind her back. Evangeline ignored it all. Not because she thought herself better than those people, she would like nothing more than to shut them up with fist in their face every time they look at her like some filthy creature. She couldn't stand up to them because she knew Jericho would defend her. That worried Evangeline; Jericho doesn't know how to hold back when he's helping people, especially her.

"You have to ignore it, this is a school. She will be teased, and she will become stronger for it." Evangeline tried to calm him down; she could sense how tensed he was. Cardin did not know how much danger he was in right now. All it would take is one yelp of pain from the rabbit-eared Faunus and Jericho would attack.

Jericho growled "Not if it completely destroys her." Across the cafeteria the girl yelped as Cardin pulled her ears. Evangeline grabbed Jericho by the arm, ready to pull him back, but he didn't move. Jericho chuckled at her actions. "I'm in this for the long haul Angel; I can be patient if I need to be." Jericho looked at Cardin again with venom in his eyes. "He will get what's coming to him, and I will do it without getting in trouble."

Evangeline sighed and put her face in her hands. "If you jump him while you're wearing a disguise, I swear Jericho, I will take your weapons for a month."

Jericho laughed loudly, visibly calming down as he did so. "But Angel, I need my weapons! How will I defend myself?" Evangeline cringed at the use of his nickname for her and waved away his response.

"I've seen you fight, you'll manage." Jericho smiled.

"Yeah, I'm pretty bloody awesome. Speaking of me, I see you have cookies there on your tray."

"They're mine." Evangeline sat down and began eating her lunch, confident that Jericho wouldn't do anything too rash now.

"Aww, come on! I killed a boarbatusk with a pencil an hour ago. I think that deserves some cookies."

"We're done with classes for the day. do you want to head over and train for a while?" Evangeline said, changing the subject.

"Of course I do."

Evangeline pointed to the line of students holding trays and getting food. "Go get something to eat; we'll go once you're done." Jericho shook his head as he stood up and began walking away.

"Nah, I saw something pretty gross, I'm not really hungry. I really just want to go hit something. I'll be in the Emerald Forest, don't wait up for me." Evangeline sighed, thinking of the poor Grimm that Jericho would run into. Boarbatusks, beowolves, ursas, maybe even some king taijitu or a nevermore. They were pests to be eliminated and Jericho was in a bad mood.

They didn't stand a chance.

* * *

Across the school, Ozpin sat in his office with his scroll in hand, observing Jericho fight through the forest. Goodwitch stood over his shoulder watching in silence. She winced at a particularly brutal attack Jericho had just completed. So far he had fought his way through a pack of beowolves and three ursa. Goodwitch broke the silence that had been hanging in the air since Ozpin began watching the boy.

"I don't understand why you accepted him here. He and the girl seem perfectly capable of fighting; more so than any other student here. What can we teach about fighting Grimm them that they don't already know?"

Ozpin did not reply right away; he remained motionless as he watched Jericho fight. It was several minutes before he finally spoke. "It is not fighting Grimm that they need to know. Jericho and Evangeline have been using the Grimm to train. They need to learn how to fight more dangerous opponents, less predictable ones; Human."

Goodwitch remained silent as she processed the information. "Is that wise? I don't care if this is a controlled environment, if they are as skilled as you say then this may be putting the students at risk." By the silence, Goodwitch could tell that Ozpin was well aware of the potential dangers. She sighed, accepting that Ozpin knew what he was doing. She trusted him completely, after all. But she still had one question that she couldn't get out of her head. "You truly believe they can stop him, don't you? He has _killed_, Ozpin, so many hunters and huntresses have fallen before him. What makes these kids any different?"

Ozpin watched Jericho walk away from a clearing where two more ursa were laying on the ground and responded "Because Jericho has no idea what he is doing."

* * *

Authors Notes

The next chapter is currently being worked on (for those who are interested). Now that i'm really sitting down and writing, I realize that this is going to end up much longer than I intended, which is good I think. I may have to change the rating later though for some (ahem) gore and violence. I'll see. For now, i'll be writing and reviews are much appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

Jericho sauntered back onto campus just before sundown. He held a hand to his growling stomach. He could hear Evangeline's chastising voice in his head, _I told you to eat something. The kitchen's closed, now you have to wait until morning. _Jericho shook away the thoughts as he made his way through the emptying campus.

"No way am I waiting until morning to eat." He said out loud to no one in particular.

Jericho practically jumped out of his skin when he heard a response come from behind him. "You can have this." Jericho instinctively turned around with his staff at the ready. The rabbit-eared Faunus behind him watched his panic with the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. Jericho quickly put his staff away and moved his gaze from her eyes to her outstretched hand where an apple was being held out to him.

"Oh, uh, thanks." He said and took the apple from her hands. Taking a bite out of it, Jericho held out his right hand. "I'm Jericho, nice to meet you."

"I'm Velvet." She said, taking his hand lightly. "I could hear you stomach growling" she said with a smile. Jericho laughed and held up the apple.

"No more growling now, thanks to you. How did you know apples were my favorite?"

"I didn't, but I knew you would be hungry."

Jericho looked at her, confused. "Uhh…what?"

Velvet looked down, was that a slight blush in her cheeks? "I saw you staring at lunch, and I saw you leave the campus without eating. So I waited here for you" She said, gesturing to the benches off to the side.

Jericho looked at her for a second before he burst out laughing. "Well then! I'm not sure if you're my guardian angel or a stalker, but thank you either way." A shadow fell across Jericho's face as the sun dipped behind Beacon. Jericho's eyes widened and he looked at Velvet frantically. "I'm sorry, I have to go." Jericho set off running before he turned around and came back to Velvet. "Can you show me where the dorms are?"

"Yeah, sure." Velvet grabbed Jericho's hand and led him towards the school. "It can be pretty confusing your first couple times making your way around." She looked at Jericho's face and was surprised to see panic. "Are you okay?"

Jericho's eyes were darting around frantically. "I-I just don't like the dark, okay?"

Velvet nodded and hurried forward into the halls of the school. "We'll be there soon."

"Okay. I owe you for this." Velvet didn't respond and they made their way down the hall in silence. After what seemed like hours they made it to Jericho and Evangeline's room. Velvet stepped back as Jericho fished his key out of his pocket.

"I'll see you tomorrow in combat training with Professor Goodwitch then."

Jericho smiled. "Combat training? Oh, that is going to be fun. Do students spar in that class?" Velvet nodded and Jericho chuckled. "Well then, it looks like I'll be repaying you sooner than I thought." Jericho opened the door and took a step inside before he turned back to Velvet. "Goodnight Velvet. See you in the morning."

Velvet just looked ahead confused before the sound of the door closing snapped her out of her thoughts. "Goodnight Jericho" she called softly, then made her way to her own room where her team was waiting.

Evangeline was sitting on her beds reading as Jericho walked in. "Cutting it kind of close, don't you think?" she said without looking up. Jericho shrugged and threw the apple core in the trash.

"I was having fun, can't blame me for losing track of time." Evangeline smiled as Jericho dropped to the floor and began doing pushups. His nightly workout routine would continue for the next hour, but Evangeline barely minded anymore; she was used to it.

"We have combat training tomorrow morning. You should be well rested for it."

Jericho transitioned from push-ups to sit-ups. "Yeah, about combat training…I have a plan for that class." Evangeline nodded and sighed.

"Yeah, I kind of figured you did. What does it involve?"

"Well, the end result is me fighting the large, Faunus hating bully." Evangeline chuckled as she turned a page of her book.

"Alright, let's hear it."

* * *

Jericho swung his staff again at Evangeline's head. She dodged it easily and moved backwards, linking her swords together and swinging to take advantage of the now extended reach of her weapon. Jericho ducked and flicked his staff up, knocking the swords apart before they could finish their arc. Evangeline recovered quickly and rolled to the side, catching her sword before it hit the ground and aimed them both at Jericho. At least, where Jericho _was_ standing. By the time she had turned back to where he was, he was gone. She felt the cold staff at the back of her neck and Jericho's cheerful voice, "I win!" Jericho lowered his staff and stepped away from each other. As was required in class, they bowed to each other. Professor Goodwitch had observed the fight for a short while before quickly moving on to the other teams' sparring matches. She returned now to record the results.

"Both of you were still in the green" she said with raised eyebrows. "Did you even use your aura?" Evangeline shook her head as Jericho spoke up.

"We didn't need to." Professor Goodwitch's eyes flashed with anger so Jericho quickly clarified what he said. "I mean, Evangeline and I have been sparring and training with each other since…for a long time. We know each other's attacks and defenses, we know our limits." Professor Goodwitch stared at him for a second before she nodded.

"Very well. Teams are usually not so adept at fighting against each other during their first year. Next class I will pair you with other students." Jericho smiled.

"Great! Can we pick partners? I want to fight that guy that was pulling on the cute rabbit girl's ears. I really kind of want to hit him really, _really_, hard. And can Evangeline fight the red girl with rose petals coming off of her? Because she has been staring at us for the past ten minutes and maybe Evangeline can ask her why." Professor Goodwitch was already walking away by the time Jericho finished.

"I will consider your request Jericho. As for the 'red girl', perhaps you can ask her now." Jericho turned around and found the red girl looking at them. He looked at Evangeline and she nodded.

"Alrighty then. Hey, Red!" Jericho called and waved at her. A large grin spread across the small girl's face and she made her way towards the duo.

"Hi, I'm Ruby Rose. I saw you sparring!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. She stared at the two of them expectantly, eyes wide and her entire body shaking slightly. Jericho and Evangeline looked at each other before looking back at her.  
"Yeah, with that staring I'm not sure you could miss it…" Jericho said. Ruby suddenly seemed nervous; afraid she had somehow annoyed the two new people with only a single sentence.

"And…I. Uh, I wanted to know what your weapons were, I have my sweetheart here" she said, quickly releasing her scythe from its compact form and twirling it into a red blur before stabbing it into the ground. Jericho jumped up into Evangeline's arms with a squeal. She reflexively caught him as she had many times before. And like almost every time before, she immediately dropped him. Jericho landed hard on his butt, but wasted no time at the thought of showing off his beloved weapon. In a second he was standing on one knee with his head bowed, presenting his staff in his hands to Ruby.  
"May I present to you, Ruby Rose, the honored and dignified, Sir Pentis." With a flourish he stood up while twirling the staff around in his hands. Ruby's eyes were glued to the weapon. Jericho flicked his right wrist and the smaller staff flew from his sleeve and into his awaiting hand, extending to its full size "And the highest and most exalted one, St. Elio."

"Tell me more!" She said with a smile. Jericho stopped twirling the staff and held it in his left hand.

"Sir Pentis is exactly six feet long, is made of beautiful blackthorn, handcrafted by yours truly, and weighs a whopping four pounds. He has a metal core, which makes him hit even harder. St. Elio is made of blackthorn from the same tree, and was also handcrafted by me. He is just under three feet long, weighs three pounds, and also has some metal inside for added weight. St. Elio collapses to eight inches and attaches to my forearm under my sleeve because he doesn't like the sun. Sir Pentis used to be shorter, but he likes being tall so he never collapses anymore." Ruby was practically drooling over the weapons by this point, tentatively reaching out to pet the dark and polished surface. She looked up at Jericho.

"What do they do?" Ruby was giddy with excitement. Jericho smiled and leaned in really close.

"Well, if I take Sir Pentis and drop him…" He stepped back, and Ruby quickly took the hint and did the same. He held out the staff in his hand and released it. "…gravity will affect him and make him hit the ground!" The staff clattered to the ground harmlessly. Ruby looked disappointed.

"What about St. Elio?" Jericho looked at her with a thoughtful expression before answering.

"Yeah, gravity works on him too. I don't think there's really a way around that. Although your fancy-pants princess queen of ice and winter wonderland friend can stand on floating and glowing snowflakes. I think that's cheating though." Jericho smiled at Ruby, picking up his staff and replacing his weapons to their respective places on his back and in his sleeve. Ruby did the same with Crescent Rose, and then she turned to Evangeline.

"What about you? If you don't mind me asking that is, I try not to be annoying but sometimes I talk too much, I just really like weapons cause they're soooo awesome sometimes, well, not all the time, like this one time there was a boy who just-" Evangeline cut her off by removing her swords from their place on her back and showed them to Ruby.

"I think you'll like mine better" She said, smirking at a frowning Jericho who was standing next to her with her arms crossed. "These are my Dativa Nox. They are made of steel with a red brass core. The crescent guards are tempered to a golden yellow, while the rest of the blade has been tempered to a dark blue. The hooks are tipped with diamonds, as is the blue spearhead at the hilt. Oh, and this..." Evangeline smiled at the red girl as she placed her fingers on the triggers at the hilt. Ruby wanted to hug the girl.

"Please tell me that is what I think it is?" Evangeline smiled and nodded.

"It's also a gun."

* * *

Evangeline and Ruby walked together in front of Jericho as they made their way to the cafeteria. Jericho smiled, genuinely happy that Evangeline seemed to be making a friend. Evangeline had to leave everyone she knew behind when she and Jericho left.

Jericho blamed himself. But he didn't have time to think about that right now, because out of the corner of his eyes he noticed three bodies moving his way. Turning his attention from Ruby and Evangeline, Jericho saw the rest of Ruby's team.

Jericho smiled "Hi." Jericho noticed the girl in black. "Hey, you're the one who told me where the tuskyboar things heart is! Thanks for that. I would have been stabbing at it with a pencil all day if not for you."

"It's a boarbatusk, and you're welcome." Blake replied. Yang stepped forward and smiled at Jericho.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yang!"

"My name is Weiss." The girl in white piped up as she held out her hand.

Jericho took her hand and smiled, "A pleasure to meet you."

"Blake" Jericho smiled at Blake and held out a hand.

"Hello Blake, your secret is safe with me." Blake instinctively put her hand up to her bow and Jericho laughed. "Don't worry, they're covered. But I saw them twitch when I used Ruby's pencil. You knew what I was doing." Blake just nodded, apparently shocked her secret had been found out by a stranger so quickly.

"So…" Yang began, ignoring what Jericho thought was impressive detective work, "Want to sit with us today? Evangeline and Ruby seem to be getting on pretty well." The two girls were waiting in line for their food, still chattering energetically with each other.

"Sure" Jericho replied with a sigh. "But I'm not so sure Ruby likes me. She didn't like my staff." Yang's hand went to her face as she stifled a laugh at the unintentional joke and Blake lightly punched her in the shoulder.

"Oh, she'll love you, come on!" and Yang grabbed Jericho by the arm and dragged him to the line. "We'll introduce you to JNPR."

Jericho, Yang, Weiss, and Blake made their way to the table where Evangeline and Ruby already sat with team smiled at Jericho and motioned for him to sit down in a spot next to a girl in gold and red armor, across from Evangeline.

"Hey Jericho! You've already met my team, this is team JNPR." She said, waving her hand towards the other four sitting at the table. "This is Ren" Ren nodded at Jericho in response "That's Jaune, their leader" Jaune smiled and said hi "Next to you is Pyrrha" Pyrrha smiled and shook Jericho's hand politely "And this is Nora."

"Hi No-" Jericho was abruptly cut off as a string of words left Nora's mouth.

"Hi, I'm Nora! Nice to meet you, this is Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha, even though Ruby already introduced them, maybe you're bad with names and that will help, or maybe you're a spy! Are you a spy? Spies are cool! But not as cool as ninjas, oh, and pirates. But still, a spy is cool. Who are you a spy for? Where are you from? Where did you go to school? Are you going to eat your cookies? I'm not allowed to have cookies anymore because then I start talking really fast. Well, not really fast, do you want to see how fast I can talk? Icantallksofastthatthewordsjustblendtogetherandyoucan'ttellwhenitstartsorwhenitendsand-"

"Nora." Ren said calmly, and Nora abruptly stopped.

"Oops, sorry!" Jericho just stared wide eyed at the bubbly girl in pink before he shook his head and was able to focus again.

"Okay. Well, to answer your questions and respond to the things that weren't actually questions…" Jericho took a deep breath and Evangeline roller her eyes and murmered under her breath

"Oh no, what have we done…" Evangeline could barely plug her ears when a stream of words began to leave Jerichos mouth. Supposedly they made up sentences, but much like Nora's outburse, she couldn't be sure.

"Iambadwithnamesandthatdidhelpthanksalotbuti'mnotaspyandspiesarecoolandpiratesaredefinitelycoolerspysarekindalamecomparedtothembuti'mnotaspyforanyonei'mfromnotvaleandiwenttoschoolinnotvaleandyesiplanoneatingthesecookiesbecausecookiesaremylifeandithinkiamtalkingfasterthanyoubutihavetobreathesoi'mgonnastopnow." Jericho stopped abruptly and was gasping for air. The entire table was silent as they stared in confusion and shock.

Ren finally broke the silence "Well Nora, looks like you have a new friend." A loud squeal from Nora woke them all up from their daze and Nora and Jericho began the fastest conversation anyone else at the table had ever heard.

Evangeline smiled, happy that Jericho was happy. She looked at the rest of JNPR. Ren was eating quietly, as he normally did. Pyrrha was, without much luck, trying to follow Jericho and Nora's conversation. Evangeline noted that Pyrrha seemed to be taking much more interest in Jericho than Nora's side of the talking, but she passed that off as Pyrrha being curious about him. Evangeline found Jaune staring at her, and she quickly dropped her gaze, as much embarrassed that she caught him staring as she was embarrassed that someone would want to stare at her. Next to her, Ruby was talking weapons with the rest of team RWBY. Something about gravity, but Evangeline wasn't listening. Chancing another look up she found Jaune staring again, and quickly began fighting back a blush. Evangeline stood up and excused herself.

"I'll be back." The rest nodded at her, half of them too focused on the lightning speed conversation that was going on across the table. Evangeline made her way to the restroom.

Thirty minutes later, Evangeline still had not returned, and Jericho and Nora had finally begun slowing down. The two teams stood up to leave. RWBY said their goodbyes and left Jericho with JNPR.

"I should go find Evangeline, make sure she's okay." JNPR nodded and waved goodbye as Jericho turned and ran out the cafeteria.

Pyrrha turned to Jaune "Do you want to train up on the roof again? We can finish that attack form." Jaune nodded.

"Uhh, sure Pyrrha." Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't look so down Jaune, everyone takes time to learn." Pyrrha remover her hand and smiled at him. "I'll be up there in thirty minutes, just let me get get changed and grab the training swords so we can practice defense too." Jaune nodded and watcher Pyrrha leave before he sighed and made his way to the roof.

Evangeline was outside sitting on a bench. She needed fresh air; she was freaking out a little. _He was staring because you're new, that's it. I stared at the rest of them too. He wasn't staring at me for any reason except because I was new. No other reason. No..other…_

Evangeline was distracted by movement on the roof in front of her. Squinting and looking up she found she was looking up at the very boy she was trying her best not to think about. Before she knew what she was doing she was walking towards the dorms and making her way for the roof.

* * *

Jaune swung his sword in a wide arc in front of him before quickly bringing his arms in and spinning, ending the motion with a swift forward thrust. Sweat from his hair was starting to get into his eyes, but he didn't care. He continued the form over and over again like he did every weekend. He spent hours up here perfecting the movements Pyrrah had taught him. He smiled back at the day that seemed like forever ago when he had asked Pyrrah to help him in this exact spot. He had improved a lot since then. Jaune finished the last move before getting back into his starting position, breathing heavily. He had improved, but he wasn't ready yet. He started the motions again, focusing on each movement. He was waiting for Pyrrah to come and meet him for some more training, and he was determined to show him his perfection of the form. Jaune was deep in concentration when a soft voice from behind him made him jump.

"You should make your stance a little wider." Jaune twirled around and found Evangeline standing in the doorway looking at him curiously. Jaune cheeks burned, and he had no idea why. He shouldn't be embarrassed, he was just training.

"Uhh…thanks I guess. Like this?" Jaune kept the sword held high, shield forward, and widened his stance (in the wrong direction). Evangeline smiled and shook her head. _He reminds me of Jericho when we were young, _she thought _minus the cocky attitude_. Jaune sighed, and Evangeline quickly made to apologize.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you. Just…here, I'll show you." She walked over and drew her own swords. "Pretend this one is a shield" She said, holding one sword in her left hand. "This movement you're doing is like hitting an opponent with a shield before swinging at them with your sword. To do that, you must have a sturdy stance. You want them to fall over, not yourself." She demonstrated, and then looked at Jaune expectantly. _Why am I doing this? Pyrrah will help him, I should go._ He did the movement again, right this time, and she smiled. _Then again, it is nice to teach him. No, not teach him. It's nice to teach again. Dammit Evangeline, don't you dare think of him that way._ Trying to hide the argument going on inside herself, she quickly said "See? Perfect" and started to walk away when Jaune called to her.

"Hey, thanks Evangeline. I know I don't really know you that well…but thanks." Evangeline looked at him and smiled again.

"You're welcome." She turned to leave and again Jaune stopped her.

"Umm…Evangeline?" _Don't turn around, just walk away. Keep your distance. _She didn't. She turned to him again, her raven hair falling over her shoulder and framing her face. He continued to stare for several seconds before he shook himself out of it. "Could you help me with the rest of the form?" Evangeline shook her head, and Jaune immediately started to apologize "Sorry, weird question, I just meant because you we-" Evangeline walked over and hushed him with a finger to his lips. She looked him in the eyes curiously before she pulled her hand away.

"I was watching you for a while Jaune. The rest of the form is perfect." _What was that! Why did I do that! I need to leave. No, I should apologize. I think. _Evangeline started to walk away from a dumbstruck Jaune before she turned to him. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and turned around again. Without another word, she left. Jaune was still staring at the doorway where Evangeline had left when Pyrrha appeared in it and looked at Jaune, confused as to what he was staring at.

"Jaune? You okay?" Jaune snapped out of it and looked at her.

"What? Yeah. Yes! More than okay. In fact, watch this." Jaune began the form again as Pyrrha stood back and smiled.

* * *

Authors Note

See, I told you readers that RWBY and JNPR would be here eventually. I was really looking forward to writing a little banter moment between Jericho and Nora. Kudos to you if you were able to follow the string of words without spaces, it was weird writing without hitting the spacebar. This is pretty much it for the filler chapters; no more just setting the stage! Now I can make stuff happen. I'm going to change the rating to M just so that I don't have to hold back with any blood and gore later on. In the meantime, i'll be writing, and reviews are always helpful and appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

Evangeline slowly blinked the sleep out of her eyes. Rolling over, she looked at the clock on her nightstand and groaned.

"It's only 7:15" she said aloud to no one in particular. Hearing no response, she decided Jericho must still be asleep. _I should roll over and do the same_, she thought to herself. She had a restless night, still mentally beating herself up about any thought of Jaune that slipped into her head. Bringing a hand to her forehead she sighed and wished her Fog would work on herself so she could get some sleep. Jericho always told her that he never dreamed when she knocked him out, and a peaceful night of nothingness sounded amazing. Evangeline wrapped the blankets tighter around herself and covered her head to avoid the gentle light coming from the window. Breathing deeply, she cleared her thoughts and slowly drifted back to sleep.

Evangeline nearly had a heart attack when the door slammed open and a loud voice filled the room. "Wakey-wakey sandman! Time to get up, we have combat training in only two hours." Jericho was smiling widely as he sat at the foot of Evangeline's bed and began searching for her feet. Knowing a tickly attack was imminent, Evangeline sat up with a growl, staring daggers at Jericho.

"Why are you up so early?" Evangeline looked at him curiously. "Why are you wearing your combat pants? And why is your hair wet? And why are you soaking wet! Get off my bed!" Evangeline shoved him off the bed and with a resigned sigh she began stripping the now wet and dirty sheets off her bed.

"Well, I woke up with the sky, around five. I went for a swim." Evangeline paused in her chore.

"There is a pool here?"

"Oh, no. There's a nice lake in the forest a couple miles out." Jericho put his arms up and stretched, his shirtless form showing off the muscle and countless scars that littered his body. Evangeline found her eyes drawn to the ones on his right arm again and winced. She was brought out of her thought by Jericho's voice, "there's a surprising number of Grimm that get up early. I thought bears hibernated? Two different groups of ursa I had to fight through, and without Sir Pentis! Also, either there's a water snake Grimm I don't know about, or Taijitu are very good swimmers." Evangeline shook her head.

"You could have drowned if it pulled you under." Jericho laughed.

"He had to breathe too. Let's just say I won that contest." With a chuckle Jericho walked to the bathroom. Evangeline finished taking off the sheets and put them in the corner to be washed later. Jericho's head popped out of the bathroom with a smile, "and in case you didn't understand, I drowned a giant evil snake."

"You focus too much on style points, Jericho. Pencil or drowning, all that matters is that we kill them." Evangeline stood up and stretched. "I'm going to go get us some breakfast, do you want anything?"

"Apples, green ones. Two please" Jericho called from the bathroom as the shower turned on. As Evangeline left she heard the sound of wet clothes slapping onto the floor. She sighed, knowing that she was going to have to pick them up later. _Oh well, _she thought with a laugh as she closed the door behind her, _that's the struggles of raising a kid._

Evangeline walked back to her room with their breakfast of assorted fruit in a small bag. She was deep in her own thoughts when she felt a familiar sharp pain in her back. Evangeline turned around, instantly placed in a blind rage.

Someone had grabber her tail.

Facing her assailant Evangeline found herself face to face with Cardin and his teammates who were standing back a bit and sneering at her. Evangeline ripped her tail from his grasp with a glare.

"What do you want?" Evangeline felt bare and exposed. She was still in her pajamas and had no weapons. Of course, that did not make her defenseless.

"Oh, it's not what I want little girl, it's what you want." Evangeline said nothing as Cardin slowly walked around her. It took every ounce of her being not to punch him in the throat as she felt his eyes wander over her body. "You almost knocked me out the other day. I know about your little semblance, and I don't appreciate being treated so rudely." Cardin was back in front of her, looking down at her. Evangeline stared right back, not averting her gaze for a second. If Cardin was smart he would have noticed that there was no fear on her face, only anger.

"And you want me to apologize for that?" Evangeline smirked. "How childish, did I hurt your feelings?"

In a blur Cardin's arm was at her neck and Evangeline dropped the bag as she was pinned against the wall. His rage was all too evident on his face. "I couldn't care less about you freak, I want Jericho. Today in combat training, Goodwitch will match us together. You are going to tell him to throw the fight, or I will come back for you." Cardin released her neck and Evangeline tried to hide the gasping as she gulped for air. Her knees were weak and she was shaking.

Cardin smiled at the display and began walking away with the rest of his team. "You're afraid, that's good."

Evangeline shook her head, "I'm not scared _of_ you Cardin. I'm scared _for_ you."

"And pray tell why that is?" he growled back.

Evangeline absentmindedly rubbed her throat. "Jericho already wants to beat you for the rabbit Faunus you were messing with." Evangeline looked straight at Cardin and smiled. "You threatened me. He's not going to hold back when you fight now" Evangeline walked towards Cardin until she was right in front of him, her face inches away from his, and whispered, "I tried to help you; I hold him back. Not anymore."

Cardin sneered and walked away without another word. Evangeline moved to pick up her breakfast and continued on her way to her room.

Jericho was waiting for her when she walked in. Without a word she tossed him an apple and sat on her bed.

"Who did it?" Jericho asked.

Evangeline held back a smile. Nothing got past him, not when it came to her. "Cardin."

Jericho sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm going to kill him then."

"Something less permanent, Jericho. But I'm not stopping you."

Jericho smiled and walked over to Evangeline. Placing his hand gently on the bruises that were forming on her neck he looked her in the eyes. "You're not going to hold me back?" Evangeline shook her head. Jericho frowned, "I don't think I've ever had this freedom. What shall I do with it?" He mused to himself before seemingly settling on an idea. "Okay, I know, I'll—"

Evangeline cut him off with a raised hand. "I don't want to know. I want to see it."

Jericho bit into an apple and began rolling his shoulders, warming himself up for the match that would occur when class started in an hour. "I needed to talk to Ozpin anyways. I guess this is a way to get into his office."

"You're going to be sent to the headmaster." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Probably." Jericho shrugged. Both of them thought about the consequences before coming to the same conclusion and saying it aloud at the same time.

"Worth it."

* * *

Jericho and Evangeline walked into Professor Goodwitch's class early without a word to their new friends in RWBY and JNPR. They sat next to Velvet who had smiled and motioned to the seats next to her. Jericho smiled; he had wanted to talk to her before class started.

"Hey Velvet, don't think badly of me, okay?" Jericho said sincerely. Velvet was taken aback.

"Why would I?" Jericho shook his head.

"Just…don't. You'll see. He threatened Evangeline." Velvet's eyes widened in realization.

"Cardin? What did he do? What did you do?" At that moment, team CRDL walked in the back of the classroom and sat down. All of them were staring at Jericho, who smiled and waved at them.

Turning back to Velvet, Jericho whispered "Nothing, I didn't do anything. Yet."

At the front of the classroom Professor Goodwitch stood up and began speaking. "Good morning students. Welcome to another day of combat training. Today we will be focusing on defensive techniques. I will need two volunteers, one to be offensive and one to be defensive." Instantly Jericho and Cardin's hands shot up. Professor Goodwitch nodded and the students walked to the combat stage at the front. "Jericho, you will be on the defensive. Your goal is to dodge and deflect. Cardin, you're on the offensive. The match is over when you are able to land a single blow."

Jericho smiled "I think we'll end up being here all day Professor, he couldn't land a single hit." Cardin's eyes narrowed.

"Then I shall call it should the match go too long, Jericho." Goodwitch glared at Jericho. "Ready your weapons." Jericho and Cardin placed their weapons in their hands and stepped back a bit, putting some space between them.

Jericho twirled his staff as he usually did, before suddenly stopping. His face showed a smile to Cardin, but his eyes showed pure hatred. "Actually, I know you like fighting unarmed opponents Cardin, so let's make this fight more familiar to you." Jericho took his staff and stabbed it into the stage.

Evangeline flinched in her seat as the wood floor splintered and Jericho shoved the staff a good six inches down. She knew Jericho wasn't doing that to taunt Cardin; if he had his staff he would be extremely tempted to use it. Rather take it out on the floor than a student.

Professor Goodwitch's voiced rang out among the murmurs between students around the classroom. "Begin."

Cardin launched himself at Jericho and raised his mace high above his head, bringing it down towards Jericho's face. There was a gasp in the audience as Cardin felt his weapon strike something and he smiled to himself.

"Over so soon Jeri-" Cardin stopped talking, dumbstruck at what he saw.

Jericho had caught the mace in his hands, mere centimeters from his face. Cardin hadn't even seen him move. Jericho smiled at Cardin's astonishment. "Not quite yet Cardin. I'm pretty sure this doesn't count." Releasing the mace, Jericho jumped to the side got ready for Cardin's next attack.

Evangeline smiled at the fight from her seat. Next to her, Velvet was gripping the table. Evangeline put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "They'll be fine. Jericho is just doing what Jericho does best."

"What's that?" Velvet whispered.

"Playing." Evangeline looked back to the fight, not wanting to miss a thing.

Cardin swung wildly at Jericho, determined to land a hit. He hadn't expected it to be this difficult; he was a trained warrior. The worst part thought, was the smiling. Jericho hadn't stopped grinning since the fight began. His eyes never left Cardin's as he jumped and ducked between blows, and he just…_smiled_ at him. The kind of smile a madman gives to his victims. Cardin had to swallow hard to repress a shudder and renewed his efforts to hit his target. He flinched when Jericho began talking.

"You know, it was bad enough you were a prick Velvet, but you _really_ shouldn't have threatened Evangeline" Jericho commented. Cardin roared and attacked again in anger. _He doesn't even sound winded,_ Cardin thought to himself.

"Why not?" Cardin managed to gasp out.

In a blur, Jericho was behind him suddenly, and whispered in his ear "Because now I have to break you." Cardin roared and spun his mace around at Jericho's face. A second before impact, Jericho caught the weapon and wrenched it from Cardin's hands. Cardin brought up his fist and connected with Jericho's jaw. There was a flash of green and Cardin was holding his hand in pain. Jericho smiled.

"You call that a punch? My aura can handle that." Cardin aimed another punch but Jericho caught it and twisted the hand, bringing Cardin to his knees in front of him. Cardin looked up with wide eyes as Jericho made a fist. "This is a punch."

With a burst of jade aura, Jericho connected with Cardin's face. Cardin's own aura came up to protect himself, but it didn't matter. Jericho punch shattered the red boy's shield and hit him in the jaw. By the loud crack that rang through the classroom, it was broken. Cardin was knocked out from the blow and hit the ground hard. The classroom was silent except for the faint beeping of Cardin's scroll, alerting the unconscious boy of his aura, now depleted from a single hit. Jericho walked over and picked up his staff. Placing it on his back, he looked at Goodwitch.

"This is the part where you send me to Ozpin for breaking another student's jaw." Professor Goodwitch nodded as Jericho began walking out of the classroom. Jericho didn't make eye contact with anyone, but he could feel the stares he got as he left the room, especially from CRDL. Jericho couldn't risk looking towards Evangeline; he was afraid of what he would see on Velvet's face. "I'll send the nurse down." He called as he walked through the door, leaving a silent classroom still trying to process what they had just witnessed.

* * *

Ozpin stared at the boy in front of him and sighed.

"I suppose it goes without saying that what you did is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated." Jericho shrugged and Ozpin continued. "I am also confident that you could, and would, have done much worse, had you not held back." Jericho smiled.

"He's a wimp. And a bully. And a prick. And a-" Ozpin cut him off with a raised hand.

"No matter Jericho, I did not accept you to the school to attack another student." Jericho sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his face suddenly serious.

"No, you accepted me because you think I can face him and win. All those Hunters and Huntresses killed, and you think I can stop the bloody trail he is leaving across Remnant. Maybe I can maybe I can't. I can't see the future, and I don't plan for it. It's the only chance I have against him." Jericho sat back and laughed. "I know it was wrong Ozpin, but I don't regret it. Give me whatever punishment you need to, I'll accept it. But I know you saw the threat, you have cameras everywhere. You wanted to see what I would do when I faced him, didn't you?"

Ozpin allowed a slight smile. "You exceeded expectations. You held back."

Jericho waved his hand in response. "Yes, I held back. It _is_ possible for me to do, you know. Don't seem so shocked."

"I am not shocked in the slightest."

Jericho narrowed his eyes and the Professor before he broke out into a wide grin. "You sly dog…you planned this! You needed to speak with me without being suspicious because, face it, we know he's watching me. So you planned all of this to happen..."

"Mr. Trint, I do not pretend to know everything. However, you have informed me that there is one subject you seem to know an extensive amount about." Ozpin leaned forward. "I have accepted you into my school. I have offered you protection, a home, and training. Now tell me what you know about him."

Jericho sighed. "His name is Jordan. He is nineteen years old, and he is the best fighter in the world. He has never been beaten because he can see what you do before you do it. It's his semblance; he's a preflex. I've spent the last ten years training so I could kill him." Jericho looked up and Ozpin and set his jaw. "I fought him once, he gave a few souvenirs but left me alive, barely. He's a sociopath; he wants to be the best, and to do this he kills the best." Ozpin looked at him curiously and pretended not to notice the beginnings of tears in Jericho's eyes. He was realizing quickly just how little he knew about this boy. There was darkness in him that drove him to kill this Jordan, but there was something else Ozpin couldn't put his finger on. Something that made this mission personal.

"Why do you want to kill him Jericho?"

"The bastard killed my sister."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Not as long as the last chapter, but this came out a lot better than I was thinking. The fight would have been much longer if we knew Cardin's semblance or what his weapon did, but oh well, it's not too bad. No RWBY and JNPR in this chapter, but I managed to put some Velvet in there. At least something is happening finally and the story is coming together! Well, for you guys at least. I know what happens in the end...anyways...hope it's getting exciting for you readers. Comments and criticism are always appreciated and helpful.


	5. Chapter 5

After Jericho and Ozpin's talk that day, nothing else was said about Jordan. Jericho obviously knew more; he was withholding information and Ozpin knew it. But Ozpin did not question him. The boy was entitled to his secrets. Besides, there was nothing Ozpin didn't already know. Jericho would tell him when he was ready. Well, _when_ was a bit hopeful; _if _he was ever ready. In the meantime, Ozpin kept up with news of any deaths among the ranks of Hunters and Huntresses.

The killer had gone dark in the past month, and while the thought of the murders finally ending should relieve him, he was anxious. Ozpin walked to the window in his office and looked down at the students below. All these young, inexperienced warriors, yearning to train and learn so that they can help the world find peace in the monster infested darkness. They were unprepared for the true monsters that were out there. The Grimm they fought were merely dangerous creatures of the dark. Ozpin frowned at the thought that no matter how many monsters they killed in the forests, these students will never be prepared to face the real monsters they would encounter. Ozpin stared out the window for some time, lost in his own thoughts, when he was pulled back into reality by the soft beep made by his scroll receiving a message. Tapping the small notification icon, Ozpin read the message and frowned. Instantly Ozpin sent his own message to Glynda, requesting her to come to his office immediately.

Glynda was there within minutes. "Yes Headmaster?" she asked. Ozpin said nothing, only gestured to the scroll that sat on his desk. Glynda read the open message and her eyes grew wide. "It's him, isn't it? We should warn them." Ozpin shook his head.

"I believe Jericho already knows. If not now, then tonight."

"I don't understand."

Ozpin sighed and looked at the message again. It was an ominous sign, he knew, but it proved his suspicions, and Ozpin did like to be right. "Jordan will contact the boy he had allowed to live to check on him and ensure he is worthy. And ready."

_I'll see you and your champions at the tournament, Headmaster._

_-JT_

* * *

"Finally!" Jericho shouted up at the sky as he, Evangeline, and the whole of teams RWBY and JNPR made their way to a small gazebo with the words "Tournament Sign-Up Here" written on a sign above it. The others laughed at his enthusiasm. Jericho turned and smiled at his friends. "I want to face every single one of you. Oh! We should have our own tournament! I'll only use one arm to make it fair to the rest of you" Jericho said with a laugh. In response, Yang punched him in the arm, sending the conceited boy flying off his feet.

"Alright, that's the one you're not using" Yang said with a grin. They all laughed at the blow. It wasn't the first time Yang had done it, and with Evangeline's encouragement, it probably wouldn't be the last. As always, Jericho bounced up quickly and bounded ahead of them to the signup table. When the rest of the group caught up to him he was having a very heated discussion with the person at the booth.

"No, that can't be right. They've never had this rule before!" The rest of them frowned. A rule change in one of the oldest traditions in Vytal?

Evangeline put her hand on Jericho's shoulder, calming him down. 'What's wrong? What rule?"

Jericho sighed. "Only one person from each team may enter the tournament."

Evangeline shrugged. "That's fine. I didn't plan on entering anyways." Jericho looked back and RWBY and JNPR and smiled.

"Well…good luck figuring out whom you guys are going to send!" Jericho said with a laugh as he wrote his own name and team on the signup sheet. He fully expected them to begin arguing about it. He got a much different reaction.

"Pyrrha" Ren, Nora, and Jaune said together.

"Yang" Team RWBY replied.

"Well, that was no fun." Jericho huffed. "Not even going to fight over it a little?"

Ruby laughed. "Yang is our best brawler Jericho. Blake is probably the most tactful, Weiss is the smartest, and I'm the creative thinker and awesome leader. It's an easy choice." Yang smiled at her little sister, and then lightly punched Jericho in the arm again.

"I hope you get used to these wimpy hits, because I'm not holding back in the tournament." Yang replied with a grin. Jericho smiled.

"I would hope you wouldn't. You'll need to give it your all to beat my lightning quick snakey-snake fighting style." Jericho smiled as Yang wrote her name down, and then turned to JNPR. "Your turn to explain now."

Ren shrugged and replied, "She won the Mistral Tournament four times. I think we can give her a shot at the Vytal one too."

"And I can't enter the tournament because you're not allowed to break legs" Nora said with a menacing glare and a cheerful smile.

"Uh, I'm not, uh, ready to fight other people quite yet." Jaune said sheepishly.

Jericho caught the quick eye contact between Evangeline and Jaune and the blush that rose to their cheeks when they noticed each other, but decided to ignore it. Jericho had been with Evangeline since they were kids; nothing got past him anymore. If she decided she wanted to tell him about her and Jaune's training sessions on the roof, she would. For now, it was none of his business.

Pyrrha wrote her name down on the paper and looked at Jericho with a smile. "It appears we may potentially be fighting against each other." Jericho grinned at her. He would never admit it, but he was excited to fight against Pyrrha. Excited in a nervous sort of way. He had seen her fight and train in classes, once witnessing her throw her spear a hundred yards and pin a beowolf to a tree during a field trip to collect tree sap. The girl was an amazing fighter; a real challenge.

"It appears we may" Jericho held out his hand for Pyrrha. When she took it he looked her in the eyes and said with honesty, "I look forward to having the honor of facing you." Pyrrha blushed slightly and pulled her hand away gently.

"What, it's not an honor to fight me?" Yang complained as the rest of them watched the somewhat awkward display. Jericho laughed at the blonde as the group began walking away from the booth.

They all walked back to the dorms in silence, simply enjoying each other's company. Jericho was the first to break the silence, of course.

"Well, I'm bored." He announced loudly. "What do you guys wanna do?"

"Study" Weiss said instantly.

"Get some cookies from the cafeteria." Ruby replied.

"I like Ruby's idea better." Jericho grinned at the small girl with the red cape as Weiss rolled her eyes, and motioned in front of him. "Lead the way, red!" They were just about to set off running when a quiet beeping sound stopped them. It was Jericho's scroll.

Jericho groaned. "Not now scroll, I was just about to get cookies." Jericho looked down at the message and froze as the smile instantly left his face. He visibly paled and his eyes grew wide as he clenched his fists.

Evangeline saw the change and quickly stepped forward. "Jericho?" He tensed and Evangeline knew he was about to run. She had seen him get like this during some late nights out training when they got caught outside after sundown; when he was afraid. Sometimes he would just run. Run from everyone and everything, never stopping or resting. Before he could do anything Evangeline wrapped her arms around him, holding his head to her chest and began petting his hair, trying to comfort him. Shooting a quick glance at the rest of the group she motioned for the dorms. They all nodded, she and Jericho obviously needed to be alone for a while. Pyrrha seemed to linger a moment longer than the others, looking at Jericho with concern, but she too turned and walked away.

"Jericho, it's okay. Whatever it is, it's okay." She murmured into his hair. "Talk to me Jericho. What is it?" Evangeline became aware of a wet spot on her chest and realize Jericho was crying. Evangeline released the grip her arms had around him so she could step back and look at his face, but he collapsed to his knees without her holding him up. Bending down, she gently placed her hands on his cheeks and turned his face towards hers. Tears were slowly falling from red, bloodshot eyes.

"It's not okay Evangeline. It's him. It's him." Evangeline looked down at the scroll, but didn't pay the message any mind. Right now, she only cared about Jericho.

Pulling her head to her chest again she held him close to her, there on the ground outside of the school as day slowly turned to evening. The sky slowly went from blue, to orange, to a beautiful violet, and still she sat with him as he cried and shook. She didn't say anything; there was nothing _to _say. She was simply there for him, and that was enough. When he slumped into her, Evangeline knew he had fallen asleep against her. She slowly rose up with him in her arms, holding him close like a child. Evangeline used small amounts of her fog to keep him asleep as she slowly made her way to their room by soft the light of the moon. Upon arriving, she gently eased Jericho into his bed and crawled in behind him, holding him tightly. Evangeline thought nothing of the intimate action; they had slept in the same bed many times before, and besides, Jericho needed her tonight. This way she would know when he got up in the morning too. Sighing into Jericho's hair, Evangeline allowed herself to relax as she contemplated the message. The meaning was clear; there was no doubt about what Jordan was planning now. They would talk to Ozpin tomorrow, she decided, and with that she allowed herself to drift off to sleep. The message still lit up the screen of the scroll in Jericho's pocket.

_I'll see you at the tournament, little brother._

_-JT_

* * *

Evangeline woke up as Jericho tried to slowly pull himself from her grasp. She squeezed her arms tighter around him and pulled him back to her chest.

"Stay, Jericho. You're not running." He huffed and slumped against her, quickly surrendering to her demand.

"I wasn't going to run" he said after a couple minutes of silence.

"Yes you were."

"Alright, maybe."

"Not maybe, yes."

"I just…" Jericho sighed. "I was going to run into the forest. Go to the lake."

"And do what, Jericho?

"I don't know. Swim, take a nap, kill everything I met on the way there."

"So it wasn't the designation, it was the journey that called to you."

"Don't make me think so early." Evangeline smiled; happy he seemed to be returning to normal. Well, normal for him at least. "Why are you in my bed Angel?"

"Because you were crying and fell asleep in my arms." She said bluntly. "So I carried you here and lay down with you. Also so you couldn't sneak out in the morning."

"I wasn't going to sneak out." He lied.

"Bullshit. I know you, Jericho."

"Oh, well then, since you know me so well, what am I going to do next?"

"You're going to attempt to joke and change the subject and pretend yesterday didn't happen, and I'm not going to let you. Instead, I'm going to make you do something else." Jericho frowned at her honesty and sighed again. She was right.

"What am I going to do?" he asked quietly. For a second, Jericho was a child again. Lost and scared, unsure of everything he thought he knew. It was a loaded question, Evangeline knew. Jericho was broken right now, he needed direction, and Evangeline was there. Always there to help him get through everything, ever since they were kids. His guardian angel, as he liked to think of her.

"You're going to reply to him." Evangeline said.

"And then what?" He felt Evangeline shrug behind him in response.

"I don't know. I haven't quite figured out the middle yet. But the end is the same, Jericho."

"I kill him. And then I'm done."

"And then you're done." She echoed. Nothing but that thought had driven Jericho in the ten years she had spent training and traveling with him. "But first, let's send the bastard a message."

"I don't know if I can Evangeline." Jericho sounded defeated. Evangeline raised her hand up and ran her fingers through his hair, trying to reassure him.

"If there's one thing I know you can do Jericho, it is talk. You are the king of sarcasm and smart remarks. If you can't do this, I will be severely disappointed." Evangeline felt him stiffen against her and knew her jibe had gotten to him. Jericho sat up and grabbed his scroll. He sat next to Evangeline on the bed and opened the messages tab, slowly, as if he was still contemplating whether or not he should do it. Evangeline pretended not to notice the unread message that was from Pyrrha. Jericho did ignore it, and instead tapped the message that was from an unknown sender and stared at the words for a while, before he smiled and typed a quick response to send back. Evangeline heard the ding of an outgoing message and looked over to see what he had written. She was not disappointed.

"That's more like it." Evangeline smiled at Jericho.

_I don't know how much "seeing" you'll be doing at the tournament. I like to go for the eyes. _

They sat in silence and waited for a reply, unsure if one would appear. They both jumped a little when there was a soft beep from the scroll.

_I look forward to it little brother. _

Jericho quickly typed out a reply and hit send, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

_Again with the looking! You rely on your eyes too much. You'll miss them._

The next reply was almost instant.

_Look at us, arguing like children! It is nice to talk to you brother. When I send you to our sister, say hello to her for me._

_Look at you, still relying on sight! I won't be going to the same place as Danica. They don't allow murderers in paradise._

_Oh, so you have killed, brother?_

_Not yet, but I'm working on it._

_Indeed. Let me know how that goes._

_Trust me, you will be the first to know._

No more replies followed the last one, and Jericho smiled. In his head, he had won this first battle. Evangeline read over the messages and smiled.

"Not your best, but it'll do. Come on, we should go talk to Ozpin, and tell him everything."

"I'm sure he already knows, but okay." Jericho stood up and gazed at Evangeline lying in his bed. "And thank you."

Evangeline waved his thanks away and smiled. "Honestly Jericho, you would think you would stop being so polite and formal to me after ten years of dragging me around Remnant. But you're welcome."

Jericho smiled sadly, and before Evangeline knew what was happening she was pulled out of bed and into a hug. "I know I don't have to thank you" he said into her hair. "I feel like I…well, I kind of buggered up your life plans" he laughed nervously. "I know that you've done all this for me because you care, and I wouldn't have lasted this long without you. I need you there for me Evangeline, for when I go to the dark places. You've always been there to bring be back. I want you to know that I…it's appreciated." Evangeline was shocked; Jericho had never spoken with such honesty to her before. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. She could feel him shivering in her arms; he was afraid. She heard the unspoken meaning of the speech as he held her tightly.

"I know you do. I love you too Jericho."

* * *

Ozpin was sitting at his desk when his door flew open and Jericho barged in. Evangeline followed behind him and they both moved to sit in the chairs at the other side of the desk.

"See Evangeline, he didn't even flinch. He was expecting us." Jericho turned his attention to Ozpin. "So you got a message too."

"Indeed."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"What do you want me to do, Jericho?" Jericho threw his hands in the air, exasperated.

"I don't know! Cancel the tournament maybe you crazy old twit! At least disallow your students to participate, there are lives at stake. You know what he plans on doing."

"I don't think I do, enlighten me." Ozpin smiled.

Jericho had to resist the urge to scream at the headmaster. Instead he breathed deeply to control his voice. "He is going to challenge the winner of the tournament. Probably threaten to kill everyone in Vale if the champion declines, so of course the fight will happen. It's a champion; the person will probably be noble enough to sacrifice themselves to save the rest. And make no mistake, it _will_ be a sacrifice Ozpin, no one stands a chance against him."

"Except you." Ozpin replied softly. Jericho hesitated before nodding.

"Yes. Maybe. Except me."

"Then, Mr. Trint, I expect you to win the tournament." Jericho just stared open-mouthed at Ozpin as the headmaster continued. "There will be additional security measures as well, of course. All professors as well as Huntsmen and Huntresses from across Vytal will be there should anything happen."

Jericho groaned, "He has been on a Huntsman killing spree for the last _five years_, Ozpin. What makes you think these could stop him? He hunts _hunters_; he kills them for sport. He has never been challenged in his life, that's why he wants to face the champion. You could have every Huntsman on Remnant face him at once and I'd still be unsure who to bet on."

"You seem sure of his abilities." Ozpin observed. "How do you know so certainly what he is capable of?"

Jericho scoffed. "Oh, come off it Ozpin. You know everything about me. You know I fought him years ago and he let me live. I stress the word "let". He could have killed me easily. Instead he left me with the scars." Jericho shivered slightly at the memory and retreated into his own mind as he spoke. "He called it his masterpiece. The knife was the paintbrush, my blood was the ink, and my skin was the canvas." Ozpin noticed Evangeline looking down as Jericho spoke of the memory. Tears were threatening to well up in her eyes, but she held them back.

"You were a young and untrained boy, Jericho. There are at least ten Huntsmen who have agreed to join the tournament guard. They work well as a team. You underestimate them."

Jericho stood up to leave, fists clenched. "No, I am sure they are perfectly capable warriors, but Jordan is not a warrior. He is a ruthless killer." Jericho began walking out of the office before he paused at the doorway. "You can't hope to win against merciless brutality with an honorable warrior, Ozpin. You need a brute of your own" He said over his shoulder as he walked out, and Evangeline quickly followed behind.

Ozpin looked down at the scroll, thinking about the many days he had watched Jericho stroll through the Emerald Forest and carve his way through a pack of ursa or beowolves with his bare hands. _That, _he thought, _is precisely why we have you, Jericho._

* * *

Author's Notes:

Don't get used to me putting out a new chapter the next day, (Maybe i'll start uploading on Mondays and Thursdays so that I get a somewhat regular schedule going...) I was just really motivated to write this yesterday; this story went from 47 visitors and 91 views to 101 visitors and over 200 views. The traffic graph was crazy, it went from 1 to 10 to 5 to _99_. You guys are awesome. So, I decided to write the next chapter in my giddiness! I hope this doesn't seem rushed. I did write it in a day, but I spent a long time on it to make sure I didn't do sloppy writing. Reviews and comments are greatly appreciated, as always, especially for this chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

Jericho swung his staff around, hitting the training dummy in its head, neck, and then stomach in quick succession. He weaved in an out of the dummies he had set up around him in the school's training center, striking them as he went, never slowing down or pausing for even a moment. Every now and then he jumped back as if dodging an incoming attack before quickly moving in to counter it. His movements were fluid and familiar; he did not have to think about his actions, he simply did them. As he fought the imaginary opponents, his mind was racing.

_Ozpin doesn't know how much trouble we're in._

He threw his staff away, imitating it being knocked from his grasp, and quickly switched to hand to hand combat as he weaved his way around the dummies, hitting the wood forms in the back and sides with strikes and kicks.

_Maybe I should just tell RWBY and JNPR. They have teammates in danger. _

Another flurry of punches was followed by a strong kick that launched one dummy several feet away.

_But what will they think of me then. The brother of a murderer. _

Jericho frowned as he danced between the figures before he spun and landed an elbow in a solid wood stomach.

_Then again, Pyrrha wouldn't be in danger. _

Jericho winced as the thought struck him and stumbled in his fight. He recovered quickly and vaulted over one dummy to kick another in the chest.

_Pyrrha. She's worried about me. _

Jericho remembered back to the message he found on his scroll from Pyrrha frantically trying to see if he was alright after she and the rest of his friends left him. He never responded, and hadn't talked to her since they left him in the courtyard in Evangeline's arms several days ago. He caught her quick concerned glances during classes, but he was sure to leave before she could find and talk to him.

_She shouldn't be worried, _he thought as his punches became more feral. _I can handle myself._

The sounds of splintering wood combined with the thud of devastating strikes filled the training center. Jericho was trying desperately to ignore the small voice in his head telling him, _you worry about her._

"No I don't." He said aloud as he punched a fish shaped dent in another dummy.

_You do. You care about her._

"No, I don't" He said again, louder, and broke off a chunk of shoulder with a well placed elbow.

_Admit it, you care, you just think that you'll be putting her in danger._

"I CAN'T CARE" he screamed and with a few rapid strikes, three of the wooden training dummies were suddenly headless and another two were broken in half at the waist. Jericho paused in the center of the carnage, breathing heavily, and surrounded by splinters of wood. He looked down and realized his knuckles were bleeding from the force of his hits. He sank to his knees there in the center of the room and put his head in his hands.

"You know, these dummies are supposed to be strong enough to take a hit from any of our weapons," Jericho snapped his head up and met eyes with Pyrrha, who was slowly walking towards him. She sat down next to him and smiled. "And you just broke five of them with your hands." Pyrrha looked down at his bleeding knuckles.

Jericho quickly hid his hands and looked away.

"Jericho, what happened?"

"I just got a bit carried away, that's all."

"You know I'm not talking about this."

Jericho shook his head. He had made up his mind, he wouldn't tell her. Not now. "I can't say, Pyrrha." Pyrrha sighed and looked around.

"Let's get your hands cleaned up." Standing up, Pyrrha put her hands under his arms and lifted him up. Jericho didn't resist as she lightly took his hand and lead him to a bench on the side of the room. She took a first aid kit that was hanging on the wall and removed some bandages and antiseptic wipes. Jericho winced as she carefully cleaned the wounds and gently wrapped his knuckles in the bandages.

"I've had my share of bloody knuckles from training." She chuckled a bit as she held his bandaged hands for several extra seconds before she gently placed them down and tried to meet his eyes, but Jericho quickly looked away.

"Jericho. If you need to...talk…you can." Pyrrha looked at him sadly.

"I know." He replied.

'But you won't, will you?" Pyrrha asked gently.

"Probably not" Jericho said with a smile. Pyrrha sighed and Jericho finally looked her in the eyes. "It's for the best. Well, not really, but I do really want to tell you. But I can't right now." Pyrrha looked up and attempted a smile.

"Then when you decide you can tell me, I'll be here." Pyrrha placed a hand on his cheek and Jericho breathed in sharply. _No no no no no, what are you doing Pyrrha, _he thought to himself.

Pyrrha herself had no idea what she was doing; her hand seemed to be acting of its own accord. She slowly leaned closer to Jericho, who was looking at her with wide eyes. _Is that fear?_ She thought, and quickly pulled back, embarrassed. She started to open her mouth and apologize when she was interrupted by the training room door swinging open and Cardin walking through. He stared at Pyrrha for a moment before he noticed Jericho glaring, then turned and left.

Jericho fell off the bench, unable to contain his laughter. "He's still scared of me!"

Pyrrha smiled, "You broke his jaw. He has every right to be." Pyrrha looked at Jericho, who was rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter. Both seemed content with pretending that Pyrrha hadn't been leaning towards him just a few seconds earlier. "Did you even get in trouble for that?"

Jericho stopped and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I was suspended until I met a quota of slain Grimm. I had to find and kill fifty of them." Pyrrha stared at him with wide eyes.

"So many! That must have taken a couple long days in the forest."

"Nah, I finished in a day." Jericho said with a grin. "Almost didn't make it back before nightfall, it was close."

"What happens at nightfall?" Jericho fell silent, and looked down. Pyrrha realized she must have struck a nerve there, but she wasn't quite sure how. She decided to ignore it and moved on. "You know, you shouldn't have done that to Cardin."

Jericho shrugged. "He threatened my Angel, no way in hell he was getting away with that."

Pyrrha cringed at the words 'my angel', unseen by Jericho. She sighed, preparing to lecture this boy who she was realizing she hardly knew. "Jericho…" she began, but he cut her off.

"Look, I know it was wrong, but he deserved it. I could have done much worse if I didn't decide not to use Sir Pentis."

Pyrrha laughed a little. "I've been meaning to ask you about that, Sir Pentis?" Jericho shrugged.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Any chance that it is just your fancy way of saying serpentis? As in, snake?" Jericho shrugged, but she caught just the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"And St. Elio, are you sure that's not just you saying stelio?" Jericho laughed at her.

"You are too smart for your own good. Why, you're so smart I bet you would…nah, never mind, you wouldn't." Jericho trailed off.

"Wouldn't ever what? Tell me!" Pyrrha was curious.

Looking at her with excited eyes, Jericho said "I bet you're smart enough to drop out of the tournament!" Jericho said it with a laugh, but Pyrrha's face fell.

"What?"

"Yeah, you should drop out. You're too smart for it, you'll probably win anyways." Jericho was talking extremely fast to the point of meaningless babble.

"Jericho, I'm not dropping out of the tournament" she said with a frown.

"Would it help if I said please?"

Pyrrha smiled a little, "If you want to win, you're going to have to go through me." Jericho raised an eyebrow. "And Yang" she added hastily. Jericho sighed and stood up.

"Well, it was worth a shot." Pyrrha looked at him confused.

"Should I even ask what that means?"

"Nope." Jericho smiled at her and stood up. Pyrrha noticed a flash of emotion in his smile as they began to walk to the exit.

"Jericho, can I ask you something?" Jericho nodded as he held the door open for her. Pyrrha turned and looked him in the eyes. "You are always smiling, but your eyes show fear. Why?"

Jericho laughed and stepped forward. "Because i'm afraid! We're all dying, Pyrrha, and you don't know when. So I'm always prepared." Jericho looked at her, and she could see the pain and suffering in his eyes, just for a moment; years of torment, hidden behind mental walls that were constantly under attack by his own anxieties. "Why the hell would I want to die without a smile on my face?"

Pyrrha looked at him, unsure if she should think of him as the wisest person she had ever met, or an innocent and young fool. They walked together in silence before she asked another question. "Who would you want to talk to last, Jericho? Before you died?"

"Evangeline" he said, without a moment's hesitation.

"What would you say?"

Jericho smiled. "I would say, 'Hey Angel, do you mind?'" Jericho laughed, apparently thinking it was immensely finny. Or perhaps he was using the smiles and laughter to hide again and the thought simply terrified him.

* * *

Evangeline and Jaune both sat at the edge of the roof, gasping for air and wiping copious amounts of sweat from their foreheads. The light of the setting sun bathed them in orange light.

Jaune sighed, "Wow, that was…"

"Yeah" Evangeline finished with a smile. She looked over at him. "Definitely the best round yet."

"I almost beat you this time" Jaune said, standing up with his sword in hand. "Give it a week and maybe I'll finally win!"

"In one week we'll be away for winter break." She said. Jaune frowned a bit, and then shrugged.

"Then I shall be ready once I come back."

Evangeline had been training Jaune on the rooftop ever since she was caught giving him pointers again by Pyrrha. She and Pyrrha took turns teaching the novice how to properly fight. The past week had elevated to Jaune sparring one of the two every day, and he was getting much better. Fights that used to last seconds soon began lasting minutes. Now, most fights ended in a tie. He had yet to defeat Evangeline or Pyrrha, but he was well on his way. The boy was a natural; all he needed was a gentle push in the right direction.

Evangeline rolled her shoulders and stood up. "Whenever you're ready, we can go again."

Jaune nodded, "alright, one sec." Evangeline smiled as Jaune tried to catch his breath, knowing that just a couple weeks ago he would not have lasted one match against her, let alone a third round they were about to begin. Taking a deep breath, he entered his stance and readied himself.

Evangeline brought up her own swords (Jaune had long since graduated from wooden training swords) and nodded at him to begin.

Jaune started with a strong overhead slash, aimed at Evangeline's head. He was strong, and Evangeline found it usually was easier to dodge than attempt to deflect or block his strikes. She moved to her right and hooked one of her swords around his ankle, intending to pull his leg up from underneath him. Instead he stepped forward and out of the hook, and then pushed her back with his shield. Evangeline quickly regained her balance and moved in to attack. She slashed with both of her swords, which Jaune easily blocked with a quick raise of his shield. Once again, Jaune's blade swung through the air, this time towards her feet. Evangeline jumped, and Jaune took advantage of her momentary loss of balance, pushing her with his shield while she was still in the air. Evangeline fell flat onto her back and all the air rushed out of her. Her eyes closed for a moment, and when she opened them Jaune was standing above her, breathing heavily, with his sword pointed at her throat. Evangeline's eyes flickered between Jaune's wide eyes and his sword. It was very quick; both of them were still in shock trying to process what just happened.

The sword slowly moved away and fell to the ground. Instead, Jaune's hand was offered to her, which she graciously took. Jaune pulled her to her feet, neither of them capable of speech just yet.

"Jaune…you won." Jaune didn't make any movement, did not even look at her. Evangeline grabbed his shoulders as a wide grin appeared on her face. "You beat me Jaune, you won!" Jaune met her eyes and a smile appeared before she pumped his fist in the air and jumped around whooping.

"I won! I won! You hear that world? Look out Grimm, Jaune is coming for you!" Evangeline laughed along with him before she grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a hug. Before he could so much as return the hug Evangeline pulled back and leaned in, planting a quick kiss on his lips.

Both of them froze.

Jaune's mouth hung open as Evangeline covered her own.

"I-I'm sorry Jaune. I don't know…I don't know why I did that. I-I…" Jaune shook his head.

"No, Evangeline, it's fi-"

"It never happened." Evangeline looked at him with sadness in her face. Jaune was confused.

"I…uh…what?"

Evangeline turned away and practically growled the words in an attempt to cover up her emotions. "I shouldn't have done that. It never happened."

"Evangeline, if it was an accident it's fine, I get it, you didn't mean to."

Evangeline looked at him sadly. _But I did mean to_ she thought to herself, but rather than admit the truth she walked away before he could see the tears.

"Evangeline, wait! We should talk."

"No, we shouldn't. Not for a while." Evangeline was halfway to the door when she felt his hand gently reach her arm, silently begging her not to just walk away from this. "Goodbye Jaune."

"Evangeline I-"

"Sleep" she commanded, and Jaune's eyelids began to droop as her fog crept into his mind. He wavered for a second before he fell flat onto the floor. Evangeline quickly typed a message to Pyrrha on her scroll as she walked down the hallway.

_I guess we trained too hard; Jaune is asleep on the roof. I have to go, can you get him please?_

She didn't wait for a response as she hurried to her room and threw the door shut behind her. Leaning against the cold wood, she slid down until she sat on the floor curled up with her head in her knees.

Jericho, who had been sitting on his bed, watched the whole thing. "So…" he began, "Let me guess what happened. You accidentally killed him while training?" Evangeline grumbled an unintelligible response into her arms. "What was that Angel?"

She looked up at him angrily, "I said I kissed him, now shut up."

Jericho stared at her with his mouth open. "Then you killed him? Wow, you do have issues. It's one thing to kiss and tell, but kiss and kill? That's a little dark."

Evangeline sighed. "Jericho, I need you to do something for me."

"Whose legs am I breaking?"

"What? No ones, why would you even say that?"

Jericho shrugged. "I've been talking to Nora too much I guess." Evangeline smiled a little as she walked over to Jericho's bed and sat down. She quickly pulled her feet up and lay down next to him.

"Braid my hair." Jericho laughed at her request and Evangeline blushed.

"Shut up, just…please do it." The sincerity in her voice made Jericho pause in his laughter, and he slowly began gathering her hair.

"Your sisters used to do this, didn't they?"

Evangeline nodded. "Whenever I was upset." They sat in silence as Jericho tied a long braid down the length of her hair. By the time he finished the sun had set, and light of the moon rained into the room from the window. Jericho began to get up when Evangeline grabbed his arm with her tail and spoke with a frail voice. "Please. Just…stay with me." Jericho sighed and lay down behind her, reaching around and holding her close to him. He hated seeing his guardian angel feeling so weak, so small. "Jericho, remember when we were kids you used to tell me stories?"

"Yeah, I used to be good at that. I used to read a lot."

"Tell me a story now."

Jericho smiled into her hair. "Which one?"

"Tell me one with a happy ending; a story where the heroes get away unscathed, and happy, and not in the least bit confused. I want everyone's scars to get washed away, and at the end they walk off into the sunset together." Evangeline snaked her hand into Jericho's and heard him inhale sharply behind her.

"Are these heroes together, Evangeline?" Jericho asked softly.

Evangeline smiled sadly. "There was a time when the heroine wanted to be with the hero, but he rebuffed her and they moved on. Instead they traveled the world killing monsters, and one day they finally killed the king of monsters, and then they were done. They retired. The heroine became a teacher and the hero became a mighty hunter." Evangeline clung tightly to Jericho's arm and hugged it to her chest as she felt tears beginning to fall. "The heroes have to stay together forever. They've been together for so long that they need each other. Even though the hunter seemed hell bent on dying in his quest to find the king of monsters, they made it through and lived happily together." Evangeline breathed a shuddering breath as she tried to continue, but no more words came out.

Jericho stroked her hair as her body shook with silent sobs. "I'm not sure if that one exists yet" he whispered.

"Then write it for me."

Jericho planted a soft kiss on the top of her head and pulled her closer to him. "As you wish."

* * *

Author's Notes:

I'll admit, I am not happy with this chapter. If there was ever a chapter I wanted to go and rewrite, it would be this one. But, at the same time I really want to move on. I've been sitting on this trying to make it right for the past four days. I have to move on though, maybe time will give me a better perspective and I can come back and fix this. I am excited for the next chapter, it may actually end up getting split in two, but i'll see. I try to keep each chapter around 3,000 words just because it's a simple goal to achieve a couple times a week. As it stands right now, chapter 7 may end up being closer to 7,000.

I hope I haven't scared off too many readers with my inconsistent writing, I know some chapters are better than others. Who knows, maybe i'll learn more as I write and be able to fix everything i'm not happy with later. If not...well, let's just focus on the good chapters, shall we? In the meantime, reviews and comments are much appreciated, and thank you for sticking with this story for so long. You, reader, are an awesome person.


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